Continuing HPMoR: Reductionism for the Win
by qbsmd
Summary: This story occurs in the universe of 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality', written after reading Ch. 101. It contains spoilers for that story through that chapter, and is unlikely to make much sense without having read through at least Ch. 89 or so.
1. Time

This story occurs in the universe of s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality, written after reading Ch. 101. It contains spoilers for that story through that chapter, and is unlikely to make much sense without having read through at least Ch. 89 or so.

* * *

[passage from this site, s/5782108/82/Harry-Potter-and-the-Methods-of-Rationality]

_...Phoenix travel was a sensation entirely unlike Apparition or portkeys. You caught on fire - you definitely felt yourself catching on fire, even though there was no pain - and instead of burning to ashes, the fire burned all the way through you and you became fire, and then you went out in one place and blazed up in another. It didn't sicken the stomach like portkeys or Apparition, but it was a rather unnerving experience nonetheless. If the underlying truth of phoenix travel really was becoming a specific instantiation of a more general Fire, then that seemed to hint you could potentially burn anywhere - even in the distant past, or in another universe, or in two places at once. You might go out in one place and blaze up in a hundred others, and the you who arrived at Hogwarts would never know the difference. Though Harry had read what he could about phoenixes, trying to figure out how to get one of his own, and there'd been no hint of anything remotely like that capability..._

* * *

1:00AM, October 7th, 1992

Harry piloted the Zodiac through the frigid water, while small waves gently lifted and lowered the boat. There was near total darkness, he used only the stars to keep a consistent heading. He turned to the phoenix sitting next to him and whispered "now?" The phoenix shook its head.

Harry had woken up that morning, gone to meals and classes as if it were any other day. He didn't know what wizards used for calendars, and had actually forgotten how important that day was until that evening. He had had to use the final turn of his time-turner and could only go back to 11PM. But that had been sufficient. He had been awake since 7:00 that morning, and even with his adjusted sleep cycle, 24 hours awake was pushing it.

Two minutes passed. Harry turned and quietly asked "can we go now?" The phoenix nodded. Harry stood, the phoenix perched on his shoulder. He quietly said "Midnight, April 17th, 1992, Madam Pomfrey's Storeroom, after my next spell." The phoenix nodded again. Harry pointed his wand at the boat, mentally prepared himself for what he was about to see, and cast "Finite Incantatem". The boat reverted to the block of ice from which it had been transfigured as the boy and phoenix disappeared in a crack of fire.

Harry had not yet had much opportunity to experiment with phoenix travel. He had asked the phoenix to take him to two places simultaneously, unsuccessfully. His best interpretation was that the phoenix believed in some kind of conservation law whereby it had to rematerialize the same number and identity of people who had dematerialized, rather than anything related to matter or energy. Whether this was a physical law or the phoenix's conceptual limitation was unclear, but probably didn't matter, because trying to teach physics to a phoenix seemed like a poor use of time. Harry still believed in his previous intuition that phoenixes were capable of things that wizards were unaware of, and this one was more than willing to try. He decided that if he could go backwards in time more than 6 hours, that would be sufficient evidence for his hypothesis to try the rest of his plan.

Midnight, April 17th, 1992

They arrived successfully in the storeroom next to Hermione's still frozen corpse. The phoenix looked noticeably drained, but still near its peak magical capability. Harry pulled the 3-person broomstick from his pouch, commanded it up, moved Hermione's body into a set of straps he had previously designed.

When Harry approached Azkaban with Professor Quirrell, he had become very aware that the invisibility cloak did not have to cover every inch of something to disappear it. Later, Harry had done a few experiments to determine what the cloak would handle. It turned out that the cloak treated a collection of objects in a bag as a single thing if the invisibility cloak could wrap around part of the bag. Therefore, now he wrapped a large sheet around everything on the broomstick, including himself and the phoenix, and put on his invisibility cloak over that. Finally, he cast a quieting charm around the broom.

He then told the phoenix "12:07 PM, April 16th, 1992, Hogwarts roof whenever you're ready". The now-familiar crack of fire followed.

* * *

12:07 PM, April 16th, 1992

Harry hadn't had to do anything mentally demanding for the previous hour talk, so he'd been able to talk to the phoenix. He had explained the next phase of the plan three different ways and each time asked the phoenix if it understood, and if its understanding was consistent with the previous explanations. It was the best he could think of to prevent the illusion of transparency.

After arriving, Harry quickly flew the broom to what he remembered to be the correct roof access door. And then waited. And waited. This period of time had seemed like only an instant the first time around but must have taken 10-20 minutes. Or maybe this had just been a really slow minute, Harry couldn't read his watch. Finally, the door flew open and Hermione ran out. Harry forced himself to suppress his emotions and stick to the plan. He matched the speed of the broom to her pace, reached out with one hand, and touched her shoulder...

An outside observer would have noticed only a flicker, as Hermione Thomas Granger slowed down and began to relax, having reached the safety of sunlight, for Time could not be changed. But a significant change had occurred under the cloak, where a phoenix-powered "transporter accident" resulted in an identical Hermione William Granger safely aboard the U.S.S. Potemkin, which Harry had recently decided to name his three-person broom.

Harry angled the broom toward the edge of the roof, while calling "Hermione, can you hear me?"

"I'm right here Harry, stop yelling. And I know that I'm not good at broomstick flying but is this harness really necessary? How did you even get me into it?"

Harry pulled the broom alongside the castle just below roof level, so none of them would have to witness the scene above. "Sorry, adrenaline. Yes, it was. Magic, of course. How do you feel?"

"Well, my robes are wet and cold. And torn. That's weird. And my legs hurt from running. Actually, I'm pretty cold."

Harry pulled out his wand and waved it backwards, "thermos".

"Thanks. Also, thanks for the rescue attempt, but trolls can't pursue someone into sunlight, so it was really unnecessary... I don't have my wand, I must have dropped it on the roof, take us back up so I can get it."

"Not that troll, it was charmed against sunlight. And also, your broom, cloak, and mirror were sabotaged. So we'll have to wait until later to get your wand. Unrelatedly, let me know if you feel anything strange in the next few minutes." Harry had decided that just in case Dumbledore's belief in souls had any basis in fact, Hermione William Granger should be near Hermione Thomas Granger so she might absorb the imminent burst of magic.

"What?"

"By the way, do you have enough magic to get us home?" Harry was concerned the phoenix would need to regenerate before they could leave and as he had already been awake for close to 25 hours, he was not looking forward to finding a place for them to hide and wait.

Fortunately, the phoenix cawed a 'yes', over Hermione saying "What do you mean, we're already at Hogw- was that a phoenix? What on earth is going on?"

Then they felt a burst of magic pass by. "That was strange. Were you expecting that?"

"Yes. What did you feel?" Harry hypothesized that if Hermione reported something qualitatively different than what he sensed, for example, the burst flowing into her and staying there, rather than just passing by, it would be at least weak evidence for souls.

"It felt like magic, and memories and emotions, and it felt familiar, and then it was gone. Do you know what it was?"

"Yes. I'm really tired now though, Let's go home."

* * *

11PM, October 6th, 1992

In a flash, it was night, and they were above the roof of Ravenclaw tower. "...Did we just travel through time? Phoenixes can do that?" While Hermione was talking and in the silence afterwards, Harry flew the broom through the hallways back to his dorm and opened his trunk.

After closing the trunk behind him, "Yeah, but that's a secret. No one else in the world knows that. Actually, I learned to do three allegedly impossible things today and put them together to accomplish a fourth. Which is stretching it, even for me. Although the phoenix really did most of the heavy lifting." The phoenix, understandably drained by the strenuous day, chose that moment to flame out into a pile of ash.

"Speaking of secrets, tomorrow I'm teaching you the Patronus Charm... after everything else you have to do tomorrow. It's long past time you learned. Right now, though, you should stay under the invisibility cloak so no one knows you're here. It's probably relatively safe now, but I don't want to deal with everything without eightish hours of sleep. I've been sleeping on a cot in my trunk for the past few months for an extra layer of security. I strongly recommend you stay in here too."

"This is Hogwarts, Harry. It's probably the safest place in the world. Serious injuries are rare, and no one's died here in decades."

"With one massive exception. Which will be the topic of every conversation you have for about the next week. Try to enjoy the ignorance, you'll feel nostalgic for it later. Anyway, there are plenty of books you can read until you get tired. Which will probably be around breakfast time. You're going to be jet-lagged for a while." Harry collapsed onto the cot. He pulled his pouch off an put it on the floor. Then he opened it, named each of his textbooks, and slid them toward her along the floor. "You should probably study. You're way behind in all your classes."

"WHAT?"

Harry was already asleep.


	2. Questions

3AM, October 7th, 1992

"Harry, What have you done?!" Albus Dumbledore shouted.

Harry partially awoke, slowly opened his eyes, and replied "I expected you to be more shocked and upset, actually." He picked up his watch. "So can we have this meeting in your office maybe an hour before breakfast? I had a long day yesterday, even by yours or my standards. Oh, you brought Professors McGonagall and Snape."

"Harry," began McGonagall, "this is quite serious. By scaring the Dementors away from Azkaban, you may have given the prisoners a brief rest, but you've potentially exposed many more people, innocent people, to danger. Eventually, the Dementors will all be caught and returned to Azkaban, so this was all for nothing. Why would you do it?"

Harry sat up, not quite fully awake. "Oh, this is about Azkaban." Snape's and Dumbledore's faces quickly returned to neutral expressions, while McGonagall made no attempt to hide her shock, as all of them wondered what else he could have done that night. Harry paused, turned back to Dumbledore, and began "So you don't trust her? Interesting." He turned back to McGonagall. "I understand Dementors on a level few, if any, others do. My Patronus can totally block their ability to see people or cause fear and can even destroy them. I did not chase the Dementors away from Azkaban. They no longer exist. And Dumbledore has known for months that I had that ability and planned to do this eventually."

"Why now, Harry?", asked Dumbledore. "Why not wait to influence the government, to do it legally, rather than imposing your will on everyone? This time, there was no urgency."

"You remember the night after Hermione's trial, when the phoenix came to me? The rules you told me about phoenixes may be the way most of them choose to behave but are not unbreakable rules governing their behavior. Most are looking for a stereotypical Gryffindor who's willing to fight to the death against dark lords or other immediate threats. Those phoenixes interpret any answer other than an immediate 'yes' as a 'no'; they don't want someone who hesitates or thinks very much. But I'm not a stereotypical Gryffindor. My quest was not against that kind of immediate threat, but against the kinds of systemic evil that most people are blind to, and would never even think of fighting. The phoenix that chose me knew that, and wanted to do things a different way, to go on missions typical wizards would not attempt, and interpreted my 'come back in 6 months' as a 'yes, delayed by six months' because she was willing to wait. I was on the roof last night when she returned. I named her Rogue, because of her tolerance for, let's say chaos. And after the X-men character. Even though her powers were more reminiscent of Dementors, taking memories and life force and abilities. This story would be less rambley at not-3-AM by the way." The phoenix had appeared above his head at the mention of her name. The professors were staring at the phoenix and dropped most of what Harry had said from their short-term memory.

"There was no way I was going to ask her to wait a second time. Making mistakes is normal, but there's no excuse for making the same mistake twice. We went immediately to the lowest level of Azkaban. I cut a hole overlooking the central pit and sent my Patronus down. I brightened it for 30 seconds or so, destroyed as many Dementors as I could, then took a break for a few minutes before repeating the process. I didn't want Rogue to expend any more magic healing me than necessary. The guards must have known something was wrong, because they started patrolling the hallways after a while, but we weren't in the hallways, and they didn't check the cells. Presumably because the Dementors told them no prisoners were missing, and they weren't aware of anything unusual going on. After about an hour I destroyed them all, and put a hole in the outer wall between patrols. I'm sure you can guess how we got out of the perimeter where the Azkaban wards are in effect."

Dumbledore, "That phoenix is a baby, Harry. It's regenerated in the past few hours. What were you saving her magic for? What was your real-"

"There is someone else here. With an invisibility cloak." Snape said suddenly. "Reveal yourself immediately."

Hermione pulled off the cloak and stood up. She looked scared, but no one noticed her expression. They were too distracted by her robes, which were torn and caked in dried blood.

"HARRY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape shouted.

Now Hermione looked very scared and very confused. "Harry, did you do something you should have asked me about first? We just talked about that two weeks ago."

Harry just smiled broadly. Rogue made eye contact with each of them, then let out a triumphant cry *we won*.

Fawkes appeared, and just as quickly disappeared along with Dumbledore and Hermione. Harry lied back down. "I'm either going to follow them or go back to sleep. Either way, there's no reason for you two to stay here." McGonagall and Snape, without saying a word or even exchanging a glance, turned and walked out of the trunk.

"Hey Rogue, this is totally my fault and not yours, but next time, assume that I meant to include stuff people are wearing and carrying unless I say otherwise." Harry fell back asleep.

7AM, October 7th, 1992

Harry awoke and went through his morning routine. Afterwards, he called out "Rogue... is Hermione still in the Headmaster's office?" She appeared at her name, flickered briefly, then nodded. "Okay, let's get this over with."

Dumbledore looked over at Harry. "Ouch" he said, putting a hand to his forehead. Everyone else turned away from Harry to look at him.

"What?" several people inquired.

"I had a flash of self-awareness. It was unpleasant. Is it really, really annoying to people when Fawkes and I show up?" No one answered.

Hermione turned to Harry. She was still wearing the blood-soaked robes, and it was clear she had been crying. "Harry, what is going on?"

"What have they told you so far?"

"Nothing. They won't even say a single word to me."

"It is kind of hard to talk to you while... Scourgify. That's much better. What have they been doing for the past four hours?"

"Casting charms and spells at me and talking to each other so I can't hear them. I recognized some of the spells, but can't tell what they're trying to do."

"Hold on a second. Rogue, stay with Hermione." The phoenix perched on her shoulder and she started to feel a bit better. Harry jogged to the side of the office, calling out "Phoenix's Price". He ran up the staircase that appeared, calling "Phoenix's Fate".

"Albus, why would you show him that room? No child should see that." McGonagall addressed Dumbledore.

"I wanted him to see the consequences of fighting. He is much too eager to fight every battle. Clearly it was too little too late."

Harry ran back down the stairs carrying a wand. He handed it to Hermione saying "here, pick whichever of those noisy things is annoying you the most, cast wingardium, and throw it into a wall. Don't ask, just trust me."

She paused, with a visible effort not to ask, then lifted her wand. Harry, with exaggerated movements, had put away his own wand, and was holding his palms open. "Wingardium Leviosa". She lifted a small object making an intermittent high pitched whine, and slung it across the room. "That felt good", Hermione commented.

Harry turned to the professors. "How many of the hypotheses you've been testing for the past four hours does that falsify?"

"Harry, you should not have given her a wand. You have no idea-" McGonagall stepped toward Hermione, and Rogue flew up to her, at eye level and screamed loudly. McGonagall involuntarily gasped and backed up into the wall.

Harry smirked and said "Enough, Rogue. Do come back here, you're terrifying that poor professor."

McGonagall was confused for a moment, but then remembered and got Harry's point. "I'm so sorry...", she said, stepping forward and hugging Hermione. Another part of her mind wondered whether Harry had used that same type of righteous anger to scare the Dementor. She had been unable to talk to anyone about her own fear, that Harry could somehow be darker and more terrible than a Dementor.

Snape spoke, "To answer your question, Mr. Potter, nearly all of them. Clearly she is a living witch, other than that, we checked for polyjuice and metamorphism. The only possibility that remains is that this is Ms. Granger. Somehow."

"Harry, will you please tell me what's going on now?"

"Okay..." Harry closed his eyes. " The short version is that Fred, George, and I were trying to find Hermione when the troll was in Hogwarts. We arrived too late and she died." Harry could barely get the sentences out.

"Harry," she interrupted, "I'M Hermione."

"Yes, I know."

"And I didn't die."

"No, you didn't. But that doesn't change the fact that we saw and felt it happen. But that's fixed now, and things can go back to the way they're supposed to be. They'll take you home to tell your parents you're alive and it was all a mistake, and then you'll bring your stuff back here and start classes again."

"You said the troll was charmed, and my stuff was sabotaged. It wasn't an accident. Someone was trying to kill me!"

"Yes. Draco and I swore vengeance together. You should have seen it; it was almost beautiful."

"Draco swore... It wasn't Lucius, then? Professor Quirrell?"

"Yeah. You did warn me about him."


	3. Stars

May 15th, 1992

Professor Quirrell had collapsed during his last week of classes, and been rushed to St. Mungos. The healers could do nothing to help him, and believed he would die within a few days. He could still remain conscious for a few hours at a time, but no longer seemed able to walk or use magic. This was the only reason he was still at St. Mungos.

A few days later, Fred and George entered the hospital with a transfigured wheelchair under an invisibility cloak, which they pushed as inconspicuously as possible. As they entered Quirrell's room, he spoke without looking at them, "I was hoping Harry was planning a rescue for me. I'm ready to go."

"Don't you want to know where you're going or what the plan is?" Fred and George asked.

"No. Anywhere is better than here. And it gives me something to think about. It's Harry's plan, so perhaps one last trip to Diagon Alley? No, that's not right. A trip to Hogwarts to watch one last battle between Chaos Legion and the Dragon Army. That I could believe. It may even cheer me up for time."

Harry had had a great idea, and had enlisted the help of several students and professors. He had been experimenting with leveraging his skill in transfiguration into producing permanent objects. In other words, building tools and fabrication equipment. Currently, a large machine occupied half of a classroom. It had been transfigured and assembled by about a dozen students, who were still hanging around, sustaining the transfiguration as needed and watching curiously eager to see what their work accomplished. Harry himself had transfigured a mold, which was currently inside the machine, growing a layer of synthetic diamond over its surface.

He had also asked Professor Flitwick about the charm used to make broomsticks, such as where he could learn it, and why some brooms were faster than others. Flitwick had told him that it was not a single charm, but a fairly complicated series of charms, and that the speed wasn't related to magical strength, but to which charms were applied in which order. The fastest commercial brooms were produced using secret family recipes. Flitwick had pointed him to a book that contained a set of spells for a basic broomstick, but strictly warned him not to experiment with it unsupervised, because getting the spells wrong could result in something that could speed away uncontrollably or be impossible to balance. After reading the broomstick spells and looking up what the individual spells did, Harry was surprised that, for once, something magic made sense: there was a spell that made the broom rotate with the rider's commands, to apply forces forward and backward to reach a desired speed, and to apply centripetal forces to keep the direction of travel aligned with the broom's pointing direction. The speed of the broom was then limited by the maximum force and the turning rate. Because Harry had significantly different ideas from other wizards about how flying objects ought to behave, he was no longer velocity limited. He performed a few tests with the spells on a ball of paper using a very low maximum force, and was satisfied with his Newtonian-broomstick spells.

Fred and George made it out of the building with invisible Professor Quirrell, getting a few strange looks, but no challenges. Quirrell's eyes lit up as he recognized the purpose of the object behind Harry, a transparent, elongated, faceted tube, about one and a half meters in width or height, and 5 meters long. The tube tapered to a point at one end, had three fins projecting from the opposite side, and two additional fins attached near the center. Harry's first spacecraft wasn't large or luxurious and could never take him to another planet, but it was nearly invisible, and perfect for watching stars.

While Fred and George strapped Quirrell into the five-point restraint on one of the padded chairs inside the tube, Harry made a note that something had changed. The sense of doom he normally felt around Quirrell was completely gone. After they had finished, Harry closed the hatch behind them, strapped into the forward seat, held the control stick and called "Up!". The broomstick/spaceplane lifted off and accelerated forward, slightly pitching back and quickly gaining altitude.

"I do appreciate the effort Mr. Potter," Quirrell said, "though it does take significantly more time than using a spell. And seems significantly less safe."

"I could never catch the words to that spell, or find it in the library, so I decided to go ahead with the hard way. This was something I would have had to figure out eventually anyway. I know some charms that will seal a leak, if necessary. And there's a portkey next to each seat which will take us back to the hospital in an emergency."

"How long before the transfiguration wears off?"

"Only the seats are transfigured. The rest is real."

"Impressive, Mr. Potter."

They sat silently for another few minutes, as Harry continued to accelerate and level out the vehicle. Eventually, he spun the vehicle to point away from the sun, using the rear hatch to shadow the rest of the cabin, then released the control stick entirely, and they were left weightless. Finally, he opened the Venetian blind-like assembly of ceramic tiles on the underside of the vehicle. Quirrell looked up at the stars, while Harry looked down and watched the Earth fly by.

A few more minutes passed, then Quirrel spoke, "I was planning to have you brought to me today. I wanted to give you this. You'll get more use out of it than I will" Quirrell pulled a key from his robes and released it. It slowly drifted to Harry.

Harry caught it, recognizing it as a Gringott's vault key. He was surprised, even though in retrospect, it seemed obvious. Quirrell had said he had no family, and Harry was the only person he seemed to like or even respect. And then, despite his best efforts, began wondering what treasures, and more importantly what books, were in Quirrell's vault.

Quirrell was watching Harry's expressions, and guessed what he was thinking. "Have you figured out who I am yet?"

"Some people think you're David Monroe. But he disappeared for a while, then reappeared just like the original Quirinus Quirrell, so he's probably another of your aliases."

"Obviously. Is that as far as you got?"

"Well, you're experienced at using fake identities, one of the most powerful wizards in the world, and have as much money as you need for expensive meals or bribing people into committing serious crimes. I've inferred that you're very old, to have had time to learn everything you know and do everything you've talked about. And you arrived at Hogwarts at the same time Dumbledore hid the Philosopher's Stone. You're Nicolas Flamel."

"Good. I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain that. So I suppose you're wondering about my library of lost alchemy texts?"

"Yeah... You agreed to let Dumbledore take the stone? And took the Defense Professor position? Why? Those choices don't seem very rational."

"I did not choose for this to be my last year. But even the Elixir of Life has limits. After enough centuries, its effects produce diminishing returns. I did not expect to live much longer, so when Dumbledore told me he suspected Voldemort could use the Stone to return, even a small chance that he was correct was worth taking seriously."

"Did you kill Voldemort? The description of his body sounds more like a fire spell than a killing curse."

"I have made that observation myself, but do not know what truly happened. I had given up on Magical Britain, though I expected other countries to respond correctly after seeing Britain subjugated."

Another pause. "Anything else you want to get off your mind, Mr. Potter?"

"The sense of doom; the magical resonance... what do you think caused that?"

Quirrell chuckled. "I did that intentionally. To more students than just you. It amused me to watch the reactions, although most of them simply chose to avoid me. A part of my mind was very entertained by it. It also had the practical implication of allowing me to sense when those students were in danger. It is how I was able to rescue Mr. Malfoy."

"How do you think someone brought a troll into Hogwarts? And identified it as you?"

"The troll was already in the Forbidden Forest. People claim they know what species are and are not living there, but with Hagrid as gamekeeper, it would be naively optimistic not to assume every dangerous animal is represented there. Including trolls. I even saw a dragon egg there before classes started, which has certainly hatched by now. And framing me is easy: as no one was given my identity, the wards only know my current appearance. Anything that enters Hogwarts disguised as Quirrell will be identified as the Defense Professor."

"That does change things. I had believed a Hogwarts professor was most likely responsible, but if it's that easy to bypass the wards... It certainly opens the suspect pool up to people with more reasonable motives for wanting Hermione dead than any professors had."

"The motive has you confused, Mr. Potter? I thought it obvious: she was your most significant weakness. On one hand, you gave up a fortune to protect her, while on the other, you restricted your behavior according to how you believed she would react. You did not reach your full potential as a fighting wizard until confronting the troll. Though I did not anticipate the strength of your reaction: after you killed the troll, Trelawney prophesied that you would destroy the earth and stars."

"I told you I would never... So that's why you asked." There was too much information here, and took Harry another moment to process. "YOU were responsible for the troll?" Harry shouted, shocked.

"If you want revenge, justice or whatever you choose to call it, this is your last chance. In my current weakened state, you have more than enough power to use the killing curse on me if you choose. It has no complex wand movements, just aim and say the words."

Harry's consciousness divided into more parts than normal. Hufflepuff 1, "Don't do it. This is could be your last decision before becoming a dark lord. Or even destroying the planet, while Hufflepuff 2 opined "Hermione deserves justice." Gryffindor 1 interjected "Heroes have to kill sometimes. You all know that", while Gryffindor 2 added "Yeah, killing a dying man is SO heroic". Ravenclaw 1 commented "If we're going to go around swearing vengeance, we want to have a reputation for carrying it out." while Ravenclaw 2 stated "No, this is an unforgivable curse. There is no defense. If we do this, we have to hide it forever." Slytherin 1 said "The killing curse gets easier after the first time you use it. This is likely our best chance to start. It's a powerful tool to have access to" and Slytherin 2 said "He wants this. He doesn't want to die, and thinks ending up as a ghost here is his best option." Hufflepuff 2 responded, "Then maybe not killing him is the more appropriate punishment". And Hufflepuff 1 added "Although, maybe this will bring us some closure. Then we won't do whatever the prophecies think will destroy the world."

After Harry had paused, frozen, for a minute or so, Quirrell added "After the Hogwarts Board of Governors suspended the House Points system, it's highly likely that Dumbledore will award the House Cup to everyone, rather than no one. And I heard that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams played a snitchless game to try to cheer you up a few days ago. Did you enjoy it as much as you'd hoped?"

"Avada Kedavra..." A green light left Harry's wand and struck Quirrell. He died with a strange smile. Harry floated silently for a few minutes, still in shock after everything that happened, angrier at Quirrell than he'd ever been at anyone, and also angry at himself for allowing Quirrell to manipulate him so easily. He had learned to use the Killing Curse, and perhaps taken an irrevocable step toward becoming a dark wizard, and at the same time, likely bound Quirrell's ghost to the spacecraft, such that Harry couldn't risk landing or crashing it, or his use of an unforgivable curse could be discovered. Quirrell would be left in an unused orbit, for decades if not centuries, with a clear view of the sky and no short term memory to allow him the capacity for boredom. Then Quirrell's voice "Well done. You should portkey back to the hospital with my body now. It will seem suspicious if you wait. But feel free to return any time you need advice, or someone sane to talk with."

* * *

12:30PM, October 7th, 1992

One of the 5th year Gryffindors slowly approached the head table. When McGonagall looked up at him, he spoke. "Is it true? About the prophecies that the world is going to end?" The other conversations in the hall had stopped. Everyone was watching.

"Since you all appear to be finished eating, I do have a pair of announcements." McGonagall stood and addressed the great hall. "First, last night, seers across the world relayed a prophecy, simultaneously, for the first time in recorded history. They claimed that the world ended some time last night. The consensus of wizards who study prophecy is that this is a metaphor for the world changing in an important way; the end of the old world and beginning of a new one. Some of them believe that change is the end of prophecy itself; that the world has now become too unpredictable, so no one and nothing could see beyond that point in time. They refer to this idea as the magical singularity, so you will recognize that strange phrase when you hear it. But since we are all obviously still here, doing largely what we were doing yesterday, there is no reason to be concerned."

She paused to allow them to absorb this, then continued, "Second, Hermione Granger will be resuming classes tomorrow. Headmaster Dumbledore has very, very, very thoroughly checked to ensure that it is really her. If you have any further questions, speculations or rumors, please feel free not to share them with anyone." She then walked out of the hall as the shouting rose to a volume such that no one could hear a single word, hoping naively that no one would suspect, as she did, that Harry Potter had broken time.


	4. Consequences

12:30PM, October 7th, 1992

Harry and Hermione walked along the shore of Hogwarts lake, having just finished eating the food Harry had taken from the great hall while invisible. The other students hadn't noticed anything strange about this; Harry often ate alone and was customarily invisible.

"A riddle?" Hermione repeated, "Something that can't be killed, is too horrible for the human mind to face, but toward which animals show no fear?" She paused, thinking it over. "You're claiming the Dementors are some kind of magical metaphor for death? I guess that makes sense. Then I suppose people who's greatest fear involves their own death or the deaths of others would be unable to cast Patronuses. That explains why I couldn't cast it."

"People who fear death most are most vulnerable to the Dementors. I don't know about unable to cast Patronuses. I think it's just people who know or suspect the truth about them who can't hide behind the ignorance of an animal Patronus."

"Then why would you TELL anyone that? You said you would teach me, not prevent me from ever casting one."

Harry stopped walking and made the Patronus charm wand movements. "Patronus 2.0 involves facing death with the knowledge that it can and will be defeated. That death is something that only plagues humanity in its infancy, and will one day be a footnote in the history of our species. And the promise that one will do what one can to help that process. Expecto Patronum!"

"Your Patronus animal is a HUMAN? That's not possible."

Harry allowed his Patronus to fade out. "Yours will be as well. Try it."

Before she could respond, an Auror trio Apparated and approached them. "Harry Potter, by order of the Wizengamot, you are under arrest for treason. Hand over your wand."

* * *

12:00PM, October 8th, 1992

Hermione and McGonagall sat in the visitors section of the Wizengamot meeting room. Hermione had refused to answer questions for any of the members, who were, to put it mildly, somewhat surprised to see her. They continued asking until Dumbledore signaled the start of the meeting. "By the vote of the Wizengamot, Harry Potter has been given three drops of Veritaserum and will now be interrogated regarding recent events at Azkaban."

Hermione was scared. It was natural enough given her experience with this room, and with Harry on trial for treason, but there was also something more than that. An Auror trio trudged into the room, looking resigned and drained. Three Patronus animals moved with them. A boy walked along with them with an energetic bounce to his movements despite wearing handcuffs. He looked up at the Wizengamot with a wide smile. Two faceless cloaked figures followed.

Hermione was confused, by Harry's seeming obliviousness to his situation and "What are those things?" Hermione whispered to McGonagall.

McGonagall frowned, "You've seen a Dementor before Hermione. Have you forgotten about them?" McGonagall thought it would be disturbing, but not really surprising if Hermione's memory had been damaged.

"I thought Dementors looked like corpses, not like that." McGonagall was about to ask what she saw, when the interrogation began.

"Mr. Potter", one of the Aurors began, "describe your involvement in the events at Azkaban prison on the evening of October 6th."

Harry, using Innocent Harry as his Occlumency barrier, answered "What happened in Azkaban? I was in Ravenclaw tower that evening."

Umbridge called out "He has taken a few Occlumency lessons. Give him a fourth drop of Veritaserum."

Dumbledore responded "No, that is not done. It will likely-"

"Call a vote," several members interrupted. Hands raised, and were counted. It was close, but the vote passed.

Harry briefly struggled, confused and disturbed by Rogue's absence. The phoenix was supposed to be his trump card, to allow him to escape if necessary. And this counted as necessary. One of the Aurors held Harry's mouth open while another administered the drop. He felt the chemical assault on his defenses intensify. He didn't know precisely what would happen if his Occlumency barrier fell, but intuitively knew it would be catastrophic. He decided to strengthen the barrier by switching it to a simpler sort of person, no, not a person, an automaton, capable of only one response...

"Mr. Potter", an Auror repeated, "describe your involvement in the events at Azkaban prison on the evening of October 6th."

"It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small, small world...It's a world of laughter, A world of tears, It's a world of hopes..."

"What?..." began many of those present. "Maybe they broke him. I've heard of Veritaserum overdoses causing brain damage." Lord Greengrass guessed.

"Mr. Potter", the Auror asked, "have you ever been inside or near Azakaban prison?"

"It's a small world after all..."

"Stop." the Auror commanded.

"It's a small world after all..."

"Stop this! Stop it now!" called many others. Harry stopped.

"I can still hear it" someone yelled.

"I can too. What dark torture is this?" Someone else screamed.

Myriad objections to this whole situation ran through Hermione's mind, eventually resolving into the involuntarily whisper "But... I like that song."

"TELL US WHAT YOU DID WITH THE DEMENTORS," Lord Nott shouted.

"It's a small world a..."

"Stop. Stop! STOP!" called most of the room.

Luckily for Harry, by now the effects of the first three drops were starting to wear off, and he started to feel more normal, for a few seconds, anyway...

"Have the Aurors drop their Patronuses," suggested Umbridge. There were strenuous objections to this, but most were overcome by the compromise suggestion of leaving one Patronus between the Dementors and the Wizengamot members.

Reluctantly, the Aurors complied, while backing away to the far wall. The Dementors advanced.

Harry leaned his head back toward them, smacking his lips in a mocking kiss. They froze then jumped back slightly.

"What are you waiting for? GO!" shouted Lord Jugson. Then, after a pause, "He is restrained and doesn't have a wand. How are you still afraid?" The Dementors moved forward again, more slowly.

"What did the Dementors say?" Hermione asked McGonagall.

"You didn't hear? They said 'He is dangerous' " So Hermione was apparently blind and deaf to Dementors now. McGonagall didn't know whether that was a disability or a blessing. She wondered what the implications were, and was disturbed by the options that presented themselves.

Harry had closed his eyes. The effect of the Veritaserum had largely faded, so he switched to a new personality for his Occlumency barrier. He had no idea if it would work, but he had some ideas about wandless magic...

Imaginary Harry held his wand, standing and facing the Dementors. Harry thought in detail about the wand's appearance, texture and weight and passed that information to the imaginary personality. Imaginary Harry made the Patronus wand movements, and pointed the wand. "Expecto Patronum" shouted Harry, simultaneously with Imaginary Harry. Impossibly, a dim silver shield appeared, driving the Dementors back. Harry tried to put all of his magic into it, but it failed a few seconds later.

"You should really have the Patroni put back. I don't know how long those Aurors can take this," Harry said. Hours of being close to the Dementors, even protected, had largely drained the Aurors. After less than a minute of unprotected exposure, two of them slumped to the ground and appeared to have difficulty just sitting up. The third had moved over to where his Patronus was protecting the Wizengamot, standing as close to it as possible, but still looking like he was about to pass out.

Lucius Malfoy spoke for the first time, "Nice try Mr. Potter. But you will not get away that easily. You alone have made public threats on Azkaban, and you alone have demonstrated unusual influence over Dementors, so there is no doubt that you are involved, if not solely responsible. Dementors are a vital weapon for national defense, and without them, other nations are preparing for invasion. We have borrowed a handful of them from our allies, at great cost, but this cannot continue forever. Tell us now where the Dementors have gone, and assist in recovering them, and this council will perhaps be persuaded to show you mercy."

"No mercy! Dementors, attack him. Not to worry, Lucius, once he gets to know them a little better, he'll tell us everything he knows." Jugson called out, smiling. The Dementors moved forward again, faster this time, without hesitating as they had previously.

There was total silence. All eyes were on Harry, many were expecting his defeat, many others were anticipating what new impossible trick he could pull to get out of this situation.

Hermione stood, wand in hand, and called out "Don't worry, Harry. It's my turn to save you. Expecto Patronum." A silvery figure appeared between Harry and the Dementors. It was almost too bright to look at, but was still clearly recognizable as a human woman. The council continued to stare in shocked silence, then shielded their eyes as the figure brightened. After a minute it dimmed and went out. As everyone's eyes adjusted, they saw two empty cloaks laying on the ground. The Aurors had stood and resumed their previous positions, acting as if they had never left.

"SHE took the Dementors! She had plenty of time to plan and prepare while pretending to be dead." Nott exclaimed. "She clearly has unnatural dark powers and motives. She was likely also responsible for the Boy-Who-Lived acting as if he could scare a Dementor. It all makes sense. It also explains how he was able to claim innocence under Veritaserum if he really is innocent. And she must have somehow forced him to agree to pay a hundred thousand Galleons to free her. An explanation involving one child with impossible powers is more believable than one involving two."

Hermione had sat back down, slouching into the seat as if trying to become invisible. This reaction had not occurred to her.

"That... actually makes sense" Malfoy began. "I'm not convinced, but we should have her interrogated. It may prove illuminating."

"You IDIOTS" Harry interrupted, "You claim to be concerned about other countries invading using Dementors, as if a prison full of Dementors was your only deterrent to such invasions, and claim to believe one of us was responsible for it-"

"It's clear that one of you was responsible. I don't think anyone here questions that, Mr. Potter. And the threat of invasion is no mere 'concern'. We have intelligence that the dark lord of a small, distant country has already ordered a strike force accompanied by a larger number of Dementors to test our defenses. Chief Warlock Dumbledore has generously-" Malfoy almost spat the word. "-offered sanctuary at Hogwarts to anyone who needs it during the attack. This is the fate to which you have condemned magical Britain: mass evacuations and hiding in a fortress whenever someone decides we are weak."

"What I was going to say" Harry continued, "Is given all that, instead of arresting or interrogating us, you should be treating us as the your best deterrent to Dementor attacks. I offer you all a deal: end this farce- drop any charges, release me and give me back my wand, and I and the other members of House Potter will defend Britain against any Dementor attack. More than that, the world will learn that anyone who attacks Britain with Dementors will no longer be permitted to HAVE Dementors."

"That sounds appealing" Madam Longbottom responded, "if they are truly able to repel an invasion and prevent a war. I think we should let them try. And if they succeed, that more than makes up for whatever else they have done, so we can let this matter pass. Let's vote on it."

The vote passed nearly unanimously. Nothing motivates politicians like fear, except possibly watching their opponents publicly fail. And both motives were present here. The Aurors released Harry, and returned his wand.

"Now, how do you even plan to find this army, or get to them?" Jugson asked, mockingly. "You wouldn't make promises you can't keep, would you?"

While everyone was looking down, no one saw Dumbledore pull a red and gold marble from his robes, and place it on the floor. He wordlessly gestured at it with his wand, and it caught fire and burned away, leaving no smoke or ash.

"Well, about that..." Harry began uncertainly. "I might need-" Rogue flashed into existence before him.

"Never mind, it looks like our ride is here. Come on, Hermione, it's time for some third-world wanna-be dark lord to learn the true meaning of Chaos."


	5. Forward

Aftermath 1: April, 1998

The remaining Death Eaters, about 40 individuals who had rejected Malfoy's historic May 1992 coalition, had met with Voldemort in a cemetery that night, as was their custom. Tonight, however, Aurors and volunteers had surrounded the Death Eaters. Alastor Moody was standing between Harry Potter and Bellatrix Black, all three facing Voldemort. Amelia Bones, Lucius Malfoy, and Madam Longbottom were on the other side of the circle. Every Auror healthy enough to stand unaided was also present, as were McGonagall, Flitwick, several other professors, Hermione, Draco, the other seventh year students who had once served in their school armies, and many graduates who had fought in Quirrell's armies.

The Death Eaters were outnumbered by about 5 to 1, which while good odds for a normal fight, was less than Moody would have preferred for this one. The other Death Eaters would go down easily enough, but Voldie was still a wild card. He knew Harry had a plan, but he hadn't shared all of it so Moody had to assume it would fail. This could still get ugly.

The fight so far had been short and anti-climactic: Harry had sent his Patronus to locate Voldemort and keep him under surveillance from a distance until he met his followers. When it reported back, he had gone back in time, and organized the large group to arrive one second later. Harry had explained the benefits of specialization to them, as well as the economics of relative advantage. Eventually he convinced all of them to follow his plan. The students would cast prismatic hemispheres and try cover the ends of their opponents wands, the less experienced Aurors and some others would cast their best shields around the entire group, Director Bones and Headmistress McGonagall would enact spells similar to those which protected Azkaban, such as anti-apparition and anti-flying, Hermione and a few others would cast Patronuses, and anyone who could cast killing curses would do so, except for Moody, who, along with Harry, would telepathically attack Voldemort, mostly to keep him on the defensive and prevent him from telepathically attacking others. Everyone else would cast attack spells at their discretion. It had taken days for Moody to become comfortable with trusting others to handle any defenses for him. It also took days of demonstrations and practice for many to believe in a Patronus that could block a Killing Curse.

When the group Apparated into position, the Death Eaters had immediately released a volley of Killing Curses, as expected, and then watched, astonished, as their targets calmly stood their ground casting spells while silver balls swept quickly around the circle intercepting the green flashes. The Death Eaters, witnessing the impossible and being familiar with the now legendary status of the Boy-Who-Lived, were demoralized by this and attempted to escape, only to discover that they were trapped.

As they leveled wands at each other, Harry Potter looked Voldemort in the eyes and spoke. "You, Thomas Riddle, are apparently under the mistaken impression that we are in some way equal. An understandable mistake, but the prophecy said YOU would consider ME your equal, not the reverse. I destroyed Dementors and Trolls as a first year student. I beat you as an infant. I bring my friends back from the dead. And my true arch-enemy, Death itself, is more powerful than you could ever be. You would have to be stupid to believe you could defeat me. I will now give you one chance: you have something that I want, and if you agree to give it to me, I will show you mercy. That is, Salazar Slytherin's secrets. Agree to teach them to me and I will let you live in prison for as long as you choose to live. But make no mistake, Tom, this is not so important to me that you have a position from which to bargain. You will surrender unconditionally or you will die. Choose now."

Voldemort paused for only a moment before replying. "You're bluffing. I know you better than you think, and you underest-"

A few weeks earlier, Harry had prepared for this fight in his usual way. Fighting wizard was conceptually simple: trying to put up defenses that would block whatever someone was likely to throw at you, while trying in turn to attack in ways that were likely to go past their current set of defenses. He had read about every tactic and ability Voldemort had been known to use. Then he made a list of every know shielding spell and every known attack those spells would block. And thought about which attacks would be likely to defeat or incapacitate someone whose Horcruxes would defend him from Killing Curses. Then he noticed something. He muttered to himself "That's too obvious. I thought of it as a first year student. There's no way SOMEONE hasn't..."

"Burn him." This was Rogue's cue, she instantly appeared inside Voldemort's shield, grabbed his wand in her right talon, his wrist in her left talon, and snapped the wand. His shield failed instantly and they transported away. All of this happened in about 50ms, barely long enough for anyone to register what had happened before it was over.

Anyone watching a certain location would have seen a phoenix-like flash, and then Voldemort explosively exhaling a cloud of bright white flecks from his mouth and nose, and spinning backwards. He clamped his hands to his ears, kicking his legs helplessly and gasping for breath, half his body was burning and the other half freezing. Blackness closed around his peripheral vision. The last thing he saw before his vision failed entirely was the blinding light of the sun, taking up his entire field of vision as he rotated to face it. And then he lost consciousness, and high intensity ultraviolet light vaporized his remaining organic material over the next few hours.

Back at the cemetery, Harry instructed Rogue, "Do that snake too. That thing creeps me out."

Bones spoke, "You're all under arrest. Throw down your wands and surrender."

Moody added "Or resist. This battle hasn't been any fun yet." Carrow spun and raised his wand. Moody cast two spells. After the first, Carrow's shields were torn away. After the second, he was on the ground, unconscious but still alive.

Most people gasped in horror, Auror and Death Eater alike. Nymphadora turned to Moody, "You never taught me that spell. I never even knew there WAS a flaying spell."

Moody gestured at Harry, "Never saw the point of it before this damn kid killed all the Dementors."

Harry interrupted, "Hey! I did NOT kill ALL the Dementors. I left four in case I ever needed one for something. They would have been useful today, for example. Hermione eradicated them. She thought I was going to go dark side. Though if you really want to make a new one, Professor Quirrell once told me there was a ritual involving a rope-"

Hermione interrupted, "Harry! You DID go dark side. You had one of them kiss Snape."

"Snape killed Dumbledore. And he was a really powerful wizard, so it was unlikely that I could kill him on my own at the time. What was I supposed to do?"

"SNAPE killed DUMBLEDORE?" Several people exclaimed this simultaneously. "Why?" asked many. "How?" asked Moody.

"Dumbledore just stood there and let him do it. I never understood why. And he had made me promise never to bring him back during every conversation I had with him for three years before that."

"Moody was supposed to be watching Bellatrix", Bones thought. "It's harder to convince anyone to surrender while that crazy woman is randomly Cruscioing the unarmed Death Eaters. Although, she hasn't shot any Aurors in the back, so she has still vastly exceeded expectations. Oh well, it's not a priority at the moment. I can deal with Bellatrix after the people who more obviously want to kill me are dealt with".

After the Aurors had the surviving Death Eaters safely disarmed and restrained, one Auror stopped and asked no one in particular "Um... Dumbledore had a phoenix during the last war... could he have done that to Voldemort whenever he felt like it?"

This was mostly forgotten after Neville called "Harry, Hannah's been killed. One of the Death Eaters got a spell though the shields and she didn't dodge in time."

"Where is she?"

"Vaporized. Gone. Can you still-"

Harry and Rogue appeared to transport from where they were standing over to Neville. But when they arrived, Hannah was with them. She looked around briefly. "I died?" she asked.

"No, not really." Harry interrupted the random people answering in the affirmative. "I haven't actually defeated Death yet, I've just gotten really good at poking it in the eye. I can't always save everyone, so don't take it for granted." Harry had said this before, but somehow, the message never got through.

* * *

May, 1998

"Harry, we really want you to become an Auror", Bones said. "You have quite a few unique and valuable skills." Moody nodded in agreement.

"I want to teach at Hogwarts. And research magic. But I'll make you a deal: I'm willing to be a consulting Auror, meaning I'll keep up with Auror training, help train your people with any new magic or tactics that might be helpful, help fight any serious threats, and help investigate time-turner cases. And you won't ask me to do anything boring."

He had shown unprecedented skill with time-cases during his Auror internship. Of course they would never give a student permission to work on such potentially dangerous assignments, but he'd never actually asked permission. Bones was convinced that he had this aptitude because he was already high-functioning insane, and therefore the work could not drive him to that state. She had learned that this was not a rare opinion. "Deal." His offer was still better than her working relationship with Dumbledore had been. Probably.

"I'm retiring." Moody announced. "I want to be a consulting Auror too. Sounds more fun" Bones just growled under her breath.

* * *

Aftermath 2: August, 2002

Harry entered Headmistress McGonagall's office. "Minerva", he nodded, "what did you want to see me about? My lesson plans?" Harry was teaching an introductory science course to all interested students and transfiguration to the older students. McGonagall still taught the younger students, when focusing on safety was most critical, and Harry had convinced her that students who do poorly in her classes should retake her classes rather than moving on and attempting more dangerous things. Most importantly (to Harry), he was mentoring the first Hogwarts class of "graduate students" who were helping each other research lost magic.

"No, Harry" she replied. "I really hadn't expected to have to call you to my office more often after you graduated than before. Clearly I was being wildly optimistic. This is about you and your graduate students cutting apart Hogwarts. You removed an entire tower from the upper levels. And put it on the moon!"

"The upper levels change all the time, Minerva. The hole has grown over by now. I challenge anyone to find a single crack, cut, or scorch mark. And the tower is far enough away from anyone that any unanticipated results are unlikely to be dangerous. The potential benefits far outweigh any downside: I believe that tower may be able to grow into a new school, like many types of plants can be propagated from a cutting-"

"You're missing the point, Harry. This is almost as bad as the time you blacked out the stars themselves. Did you know, the centaurs are still convinced you ended the world and we just haven't accepted it yet?"

His eyebrows lifted. "I didn't do anything to the stars. And no one has to take you seriously if you predict the end of the world a second time after getting it wrong. All I did was make the upper layers of the atmosphere opaque to visible light for a few days to help offset climatic change due to carbon emissions. I was helping prevent the end of, well not the world, but certain at risk ecosystems and human populations anyway. And if there's a point I'm still missing, it's highly unlikely I'm going to get it today."

"Be that as it may, you've gone too far. You will have to face consequences from the Hogwarts governors for this."

Harry paused, thinking. "In that case, tell them Draco authorized it."

Minerva's eyes widened in surprise. Then she recovered. "Does HE know that?"

Harry shrugged. "I've never been able to predict what he does or doesn't know. Anyway, the worst thing he's likely to do is make me accept a seat on the Wizengamot". Fawkes, from his traditional perch, and Rogue, from Harry's chair, looked at each other and laughed in a series of rapid caws. Minerva lowered her face into her hands. "Why is this part of my job?" she wondered.

* * *

July 2002:

Chief Warlock Draco Malfoy approached Harry. "We really need to talk. About the open Wizengamot seat. You need to take it."

"Draco, you know I just don't care about that. I have too many more important things to do to worry about politics-"

"Harry, you have to learn how the real world works. You can't stay at Hogwarts your entire life."

"Well, I've told you many times that I don't intend to spend my entire life on Earth. So... reproduce Hogwarts somewhere off-world. Is that your challenge?"

Draco lowered his face into his hands. Even after all these years, he couldn't predict Harry's responses, even the ones that should be so obvious...


	6. Extra

I've taken this story about as far as I plan to, though I reserve the right to change my mind later. Anyway, here are a few deleted scenes; things that were either amusing or answered unresolved questions, but either didn't fit into the flow of the story, created plot holes, or just aren't really good enough to go into the story.

* * *

some time in 1992

The dark featureless entity in the hat and cloak addressed Peregrine Derrick and Robert Jugson, "You two insult the house of Slytherin. You must stop your disgraceful and, um, unambitious attacks and do something useful with your lives. Otherwise, I'll have to, um, lock you in my secret chamber and hurt you until you learn." They turned and fled. The dark figure watched them disappear around a corner, then turned and left in the other direction.

The figure turned a corner and nearly ran into Professor McGonagall. "Eep!" the figure said.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand, wordlessly dispelling the blurring charm and revealing Hannah Abbot. "That's it. It's official. There is no one left in this school who is not using that ridiculous disguise for some ridiculous plot. Enough is enough, I'm banning hats and cloaks. If students and teachers need disguises, they can at least come up with more creative ones." McGonagall continued walking, Hannah ran the other way.

* * *

12:00PM, October 9th, 1992

Dumbledore walked across the Great Hall to the head table. As he looked across the room, his eyes stopped on the phoenix hovering near the Ravenclaw table. The phoenix disappeared. He continued walking.

He thought he heard something to his left, and turned to look. Nothing. He saw a flash of red in his rightmost peripheral vision, and turned back. Again nothing. Many of the students had started giggling quietly.

He then noticed Fawkes watching something behind him. He turned left and then right again, watching Fawkes gaze. Something was carefully staying behind him, out of sight. Oh...

"Harry, I don't think your phoenix likes me very much..."

"Yeah, I wonder why that is" Harry answered sarcastically.

* * *

6:00PM, October 8th, 1992

Harry and Hermione were invisible. They were on a broomstick which was also invisible. They were over the Mediterranean Sea. They were not alone: Most of the Dementors had been destroyed, but a group of twelve trained soldiers flying broomsticks in formation remained. Additionally, there were four people, who appeared to be prisoners being used to cast Patronuses.

They were too far away to hear anything, but soldier at the front of the formation, likely the leader, appeared to be shouting angrily at one of the prisoners. The leader raised his wand, while the prisoner's broomstick spun and accelerated away from the formation. Harry knew what was coming next...

Harry wished at that moment for the prisoner to survive and escape, and could not help also feeling the desire for the leader to die. Faster than a blink, his Patronus moved into the path of the green pulse. It struck... and reflected back in a silvery-green beam, striking the man who had cast the Killing Curse. Nearly a hundred meters away, Harry felt a burst of intense heat. The man's charred corpse fell from the broomstick and dropped to the sea below. The entire group was disoriented: one of the soldiers fell off his broom, the Patronuses failed, and the prisoners fled in random directions. Harry's and Hermione's Patronuses moved to stay between the soldiers and former prisoners, and the soldiers, now unprotected from the Dementors, turned and retreated.

"Hm. I guess that answers more questions than it raises."

"Are you planning to share any of those answers? Because that made no sense to me."

* * *

4:00PM. October 15th, 1992

Things were slowly getting back to normal. The shock of that month's events had faded, and become part of the new normal state of the world. Harry and Hermione were walking to the library.

They turned a corner and encountered Jaime Astorga, Reese Belka, Lucian Bole, Marcus Flint, apparently waiting.

"We're going to get some answers." said Belka, smiling.

"Stronger people than you have tried." Harry replied tiredly.

They all raised their wands, then disappeared in a flash. There was another flash from above, and Harry and Hermione looked up. They smirked and continued walking. After getting out of earshot, Harry spoke "Rogue..." the phoenix appeared, "I have two questions... how did you hear about that, and where on earth did you find glue?"

Rogue cawed, *Why should you be the only one to do impossible things?*

"Fair enough", Harry shrugged.

* * *

April, 1998

As the screams of the Death Eaters faded in the background, Tracey Davis addressed no one in particular, "See, this was never going to be a real fight. Anyone who's met Harry knew this was going to go easily..."

Fred Weasley interrupted her "So what'd you bring?"

"Huh?"

George Weasley continued "If you're not here to fight, why're you here?"

"Um... Everyone else was going to be here?"

"So you came because other people would be here" began George. "And you wanted to hang out with them. That's called a party", continued Fred. "And when you have a party, it's traditional to bring stuff", added George. "See, stuff like this is why people think you're going to be a Dark Lady."

"What did YOU bring?"

"We went to a couple of Muggle stores a few days ago. People are going to talk about this party for a while." The Weasleys, along with Lee Jordan, pulled pebbles out of their robes and cast Finite spells at them, revealing folding plastic tables, boxes and bags of miscellaneous snacks, a bag of plastic cups, and a keg. Fred set up one of the tables while George tapped the keg, and Lee drug a second table over to the fire around which the Death Eaters had been meeting not twenty minutes earlier, placed a box of crackers and a bag of chocolate on it, and began roasting marshmallows over the fire on a transfigured stick.

"Ugh", Bones groaned, watching the Weasleys breaking several laws in full view of nearly every member of the DMLE. "We've got our hands full here, could you deal with them, Minerva?"

"Ugh", McGonagall made a similar sound. "I have no authority outside of Hogwarts... Unfortunately, of course," while thinking "They're someone else's problem now, thank Merlin."


End file.
